BeeKeeping Project
overview / beekeeping / Honey / Visit
overview
Photo: Dilanthi Ranaweera | A newly constructed Apiary
The beekeeping project within LIDEFO is in its infancy stage, with development and growth being the current focus. The key players within the beekeeping group are the four community mobilizers that span across the various sub-counties within the Kasese district and the Project Coordinator. The community mobilizers act as group leaders within their areas led by the Project Coordinator and they represent the villagers in meetings which occur quarterly.
These individuals, who are all unpaid volunteers, assist the villagers by proving basic training and guidance in relation to beekeeping methods and how to harvest the honey.
LIDEFO currently has over 750 active members and over 1800 beehives ranging from local hives, Johnson hives and modern Lang-stroth hives. The organization provides basic training to our carpenters on hive production and then sells the hives on to community groups at an affordable price.
Although beekeeping is a livelihood, many villagers involved started out collecting honey from under fallen trees and trading it in kind, so beekeeping as an enterprise is new to them. Many of the villagers within this group do not have the correct equipment or protective gear; nevertheless they are set on learning everything they can about beekeeping so as to improve their livelihoods.
To facilitate the growth needed, LIDEFO has to train the 750-beekeeping members in practical apiary management in order to improve their skills and honey production.
Beekeeping provides money to help alleviate poverty. An apiary of just three hives can increase a family’s income by 10%; it provides access to such things as medicines and education.
LIDEFO makes this possible by:
Once established, an apiary provides an ongoing income for little effort, the bees do the work.
These individuals, who are all unpaid volunteers, assist the villagers by proving basic training and guidance in relation to beekeeping methods and how to harvest the honey.
LIDEFO currently has over 750 active members and over 1800 beehives ranging from local hives, Johnson hives and modern Lang-stroth hives. The organization provides basic training to our carpenters on hive production and then sells the hives on to community groups at an affordable price.
Although beekeeping is a livelihood, many villagers involved started out collecting honey from under fallen trees and trading it in kind, so beekeeping as an enterprise is new to them. Many of the villagers within this group do not have the correct equipment or protective gear; nevertheless they are set on learning everything they can about beekeeping so as to improve their livelihoods.
To facilitate the growth needed, LIDEFO has to train the 750-beekeeping members in practical apiary management in order to improve their skills and honey production.
Beekeeping provides money to help alleviate poverty. An apiary of just three hives can increase a family’s income by 10%; it provides access to such things as medicines and education.
LIDEFO makes this possible by:
- Training new beekeepers
- Providing help with buying essential equipment
- Buying honey for cash, packing and selling it in local shops
- Helping improve beekeepers’ skills
Once established, an apiary provides an ongoing income for little effort, the bees do the work.
Bee keeping
A typical apiary
Inspecting a top bar hive
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The Kasese district is well suited to beekeeping. It has a natural local bee population and a wide selection of rich nectar sources from which bees produce LIDEFO honey. The district lies in the foothills of the beautiful Rwenzori Mountains in the South West of Uganda right on the Equator.
Bees are kept in top bar hives made by LIDEFO. Top bar hives are ideal for African beekeeping; they are low cost, easily maintained and long lasting. The wood to make a hive costs $25; the materials for a protective suit also cost $17. The local bee is Apis mellifera scutellata which is adapted to the local climate and conditions. As a reaction to local conditions it has a tendency to swarm, abscond and be rather more defensive. Compared with Europe and America, Ugandan beekeeping is less interventionist. Each area in the district has a part time LIDEFO community mobiliser who helps beekeepers and collects honey taking it to Kasese for packing and sale. These mobilisers are supported by a full time, employed LIDEFO Beekeeping Extension worker |
honey
Filtering LIDEFO honey
Ugandans understand that honey brings health and healing and value; it is primarily for these reasons that many people have been attracted to beekeeping.
LIDEFO honey is dark in colour with a rich flavour. The tropical climate means it never sets as honey does in cooler climates. It has an excellent reputation, unlike some Ugandan honeys and it is of consistently high quality. It is truly organic because pesticides and fertilisers are unaffordable locally. It is sold by some fifty shops in the Kasese district.
LIDEFO has built a honey processing centre where honey is stored, filtered and put in jars ready for sale in local shops. The processing centre also receives wax which is cleaned and sold on to wax factors that are the first step in an export supply chain.
LIDEFO honey is dark in colour with a rich flavour. The tropical climate means it never sets as honey does in cooler climates. It has an excellent reputation, unlike some Ugandan honeys and it is of consistently high quality. It is truly organic because pesticides and fertilisers are unaffordable locally. It is sold by some fifty shops in the Kasese district.
LIDEFO has built a honey processing centre where honey is stored, filtered and put in jars ready for sale in local shops. The processing centre also receives wax which is cleaned and sold on to wax factors that are the first step in an export supply chain.
Above: Photos courtesy of Dilanthi Ranaweera.
Visit
LIDEFO welcomes visitors. A day trip includes a visit to an apiary, meeting with a local beekeeper, a tour of the honey processing facility, lunch and a talk about beekeeping in Kasese. The cost depends on the numbers involved but all proceeds go to helping develop LIDEFO beekeeping.